Manufacture of aperture cards

ABSTRACT

Strips of card stock and of film move longitudinally in timed relation with each other. Apertures are formed in the card strip during its longitudinal movement through grinding and cutting zones, the successive apertures being spaced from each other by one card length and each aperture having a thin border of card stock around its edges. The film strip passes through a zone where lines of adhesive are applied to form patterns in the successive sections which correspond to the thin borders of the apertures, after which the film is severed between successive sections and each separate section is applied to one of the apertures in the longitudinally moving strip of card stock. Thereafter the card strip is cut into card lengths and the cards finished by printing or otherwise.

United States Patent Langan [451 Sept. 26, 1972 154] MANUFACTURE OFAPERTURE CARDS [72] Inventor:

[22] Filed: Nov. 2, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 86,183

John F. Langan, Pennsauken, NJ.

[52] US. Cl. ..93/l G, 93/35 MW, 93/36 MM,

93/61 A [51] Int. Cl. ..B3lb 1/24, B3 lb l/62, B3lb 1/82 [58] Field ofSearch...93/l G, 35 MW, 36 MM, 36.3,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,293,996 12/1966 Luning..93/l G 2,659,340 11/1953 Zinn ..93/36 MM 3,410,162 11/1968 Ruggeri..93/61 A 3,431,830 3/1969 Stovall ..93/61 A 1,194,244 8/1916 Schwartz..93/36 MM 1,647,072 10/1927 Bergstein ..93/36 MM 3,051,103 8/1962Williams ..93/36 MM 3,212,412 lO/1965 Langan ..93/1 G 3,618,483 1l/197lHelm ..93/61 A 3,630,124 l2/l97l- Sauerman ..93/61 A 3,654,006 4/1972Heller ..93/61 A Primary Examiner-Wayne A. Morse, Jr. Attorney-Cameron,Kerkam & Sutton 5 7] ABSTRACT Strips of card stock and of film movelongitudinally in timed relation with each other. Apertures are formedin the card strip during its longitudinal movement through grinding andcutting zones, the successive apertures being spaced from each other byone card length and each aperture having a thin border of card stockaround its edges. The film strip passes through a zone where lines ofadhesive are applied to form patterns in the successive sections whichcorrespond to the thin borders of the apertures, after which the film issevered between successive sections and each separate section is appliedto one of the apertures in the longitudinally moving strip of cardstock. Thereafter the card strip is cut into card lengths and the cardsfinished by printing or otherwise.

8 Claims, 17 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEP 2 s 1912 SHEET 2 OF 7 INVENTORJOHN F LANGAN PATENTEU SEP 26 I972 SHEET 3 BF 7 INVENTOR JOHN F. LA NGANf 4020200 1%250/22 &5a/fm ATTORNEYS PATENTEDSEPZBIBY? Y 1 3,693,510SHEEIHOF'YI mvzmoa JOHN F. LANGAN ATTORNEYS PAIENTEUSEPZB 1912 V3.693.510

SHEET 8 OF 7 mvsm'oa JOHN F. LANGAN gwzazo/zyefiam & Sui/ 0a ATTORNEYSPATENTED SEP 2 6 I972 SHEET 7 BF 7 m\ wt INVENTOI JOHN F LANGAN amazon#0945002 (25112700 nronuns MANUFACTURE OF APERTURE CARDS BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION This invention relates to the manufacture of aperturecards of known type, in which a card (e.g., a tabulating card for usewith business machines) has an aperture covered by a section of film orthe like. Such cards have been proposed heretofore in which the apertureis covered by a section of microfilm having a developed image which canbe projected either for viewing by an observer or for reproduction withor without magnification. In making such master cards the aperture issometimes covered temporarily with a removable sheet of paper or likematerial to provide a complete card surface prior to the eventualsubstitution of the microfilm section.

Probably the greatest field of use of aperture cards, however, is in theso-called copy card, in which the aperture is covered by a section offilm relatively insensitive to ordinary light but capable of developingan image under appropriate conditions. Examples of such film include thewell-known diazo film which is used 1 with ammonia processing systems,Kalvaor or Kalfax film which is developed by exposure to ultravioletlight, etc. Such copy cards are produced in great quantities and areextensively used for example in making copies from master cards.

Accordingly, references hereinafter to cover sections" or sheets areintended to describe generically all such forms of aperture cards.

One of the great problems encountered heretofore in the manufacture'ofsuch cards has been to mount the aperture cover, usually a film section,securely in place while at the same time preventing any increase of thecombined thickness of the overlapped portions of card and film beyondthe original thickness of the card stock. An eminently satisfactorysolution to this problem of increased thickness was provided by themethod first disclosed and claimed in the prior patent of John F. Langanet al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,212,412 dated Oct. 19, 1965. According to thismethod, one side of the card stock is pressed against embossing lands orridges which cause the material to project from the other side of thestock in a pattern corresponding to the arrangement of the lands, andthe projecting material is then removed by grinding to thin the stockthroughout only the embossed area supported by the lands. Thereafter theunground portions surrounded by the ground area are removed to form theapertures.

In other Langan U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,224,917 and 3,352,045, dated Dec. 21,1965, and Nov. 14, 1967, respectively, it was proposed to coat the thinborders of the apertures, formed by the method of U.S. Pat. No.3,212,412, with tacky adhesive for holding applied aperture coverssecurely in place. The aperture covers were cut from the end of a rolland the individual sections or cover sheets were then transferred fromthe cutting location to the moving card strip by means of a vacuumtransfer roll.

The subsequent Langan U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,716 dated Oct. 3, 1967, showsa commercial apparatus designed to utilize the method of U.S. Pat. No.3,212,412. In this case the volume of production was speeded up by theuse of a moving strip or web of card stock having a width equal to thewidth of four individual cards, but at the expense of added slittingapparatus at the end of the machine for subdividing this wide strip intofour narrow ones each having the desired card width. This was necessaryto increase production, because the permissible speed of longitudinalmovement of the web was limited. If the web was moved too rapidlythrough the grinding zone, the time available to complete the grindingto the depth required by the aforesaid method was correspondinglyshortened and the grinding operation tended to become so severe as todamage the web due either to actual tearing or to overheating of theadjacent unground stock. U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,716 proposed a partialsolution to this problem by passing the web in series over two rollerseach having raised lands, instead of the single roller illustrateddiagrammatically in U.S. Pat. No. 3,212,412, thus dividing the grindingoperation into steps. However, each partially ground aperture borderarea leaving the supporting lands of the first roller had to betransferred into exact registry with and support on the lands of thesecond roller. Proper adjustment or regulation of the travel of the webto obtain this exact registry was difficult to accomplish even at slowlongitudinal speed and was not feasible at the desired much higherspeeds of movement with which the present invention is concerned.

Experience showed that these prior methods, while capable of producinggood products, did not enable truly high-speed commercial production fora number of reasons. In the first place, it is necessary to grind cardstock having a thickness of about 0.007 inch against supporting landsdown to a thickness of only 0.002 inch or even less in the rectangularlyshaped area which eventually forms the border around the edges of theaperture. At the speed of movement of a traveling single-width strip ofcard stock desired for high-speed production (say 30,000 or more cardsper hour), it is difficult to grind uniformly to such a depth in onegrinding operation, apart from the risks of tearing completely throughthe remaining very thin tissue-like material and/or of heat damage tothe unground card stock. As already stated, transfer of the partiallyground material from one set of lands to another in order to divide upthe grinding operation into two or more steps is not feasible at highspeeds.

Another problem which gives rise to great difficulty is the control ofthe adhesive. The use of too much adhesive results in squeezing some ofit out beyond the overlapping edges of the applied cover and border sothat cards in a stack often stick together. In any event, the presenceof ridges or even very small spots of dried adhesive extending above theplane of the card surface creates serious problems. The application ofadhesive to the very thin ground aperture borders while they are inrapid motion presents further difficulties.

Thus improvements in the methods and apparatus of the prior patentsmentioned above have been required in order to obtain the productionspeeds desirable in commercial practice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the problems ofgrinding the successive aperture border regions on a rapidly movingstrip or web of car stock by wrapping the web partway around the surfaceof a drum rotating fast enough to provide the desired linear speed ofthe strip,

without relative movement between the strip and the drum surface. Theentire embossing and grinding operation in each successive apertureborder area is completed during the time that the section of the stripcontaining said area remains in contact with the drum, each apertureregion remaining constantly in contact with the same lands during thisoperation. By using a drum of sufficient diameter, provided withembossing lands spaced peripherally by a distance equal to one cardlength, the effective length of the grinding zone can be increased sothat the number of grinding steps can be increased to any desiredextent. For instance, the grinding operation can be performed in tensteps on successive aperture areas of the strip while traveling with thedrum at a linear speed sufficient to produce 30,000 or more cards perhour from a single-width strip. In such a case the grinding operationcan be adjusted so that on the average about 0.0004 inch of card stockis removed at each grinding step, the original card stock thickness ofabout 0.007 inch being thus reduced to 0.003 inch or less.

Usually the film or other cover strip will have the width desired forthe cover sections to be applied to the cards so that it is onlynecessary to cut pieces of the required length in succession from theend of the strip in order to provide the desired sections. According tothe invention, adhesive is applied to the strip before these sectionsare cut off. It is desirable to apply the adhesive to each section inlines forming a pattern corresponding to the thin borders of theapertures in the card web. Since the linear speed required for the stripis substantially less than that of the card stock web, for reasonsdiscussed below, difficulties with the application of adhesive areminimized and good control of the amount of adhesive is obtained byapplying it to the cover strip instead of to the moving card stock web.

It has been found advantageous to apply the adhesive to the strip in aseries of spaced dots aligned so as to form a rectangular linear patterncorresponding to the borders of the apertures. The method of applicationmay be similar to that used in intaglio or gravure printing, asdistinguished from relief printing. The strip is passed around anadhesive-applicator roll having peripheral rims engaging the edges ofthe strip and connected at peripherally spaced points by transverse oraxial ribs also engaging the strip. The edges of these rims and/or ribsare in effect serrated or notched so as to provide series of smallpockets holding the adhesive which is thus deposited on the strip in theform of aligned dots. The transverse ribs referred to above are inpairs, the two ribs of each pair being spaced just enough to permit thestrip to be cut transversely between them leaving a transverse line ofadhesive dots on each end of each cut-off section. Meanwhile theperipheral ribs deposit lines of adhesive dots along both edges of thestrip between the transverse lines, whereby each section, when cut fromthe strip, has lines of adhesive dots along all four edges which form arectangular pattern corresponding to the aperture borders.

The film or other cover strip is thus moved continuously through theadhesive-applying section, but at a linear speed substantially less thanthat of the card strip since each cover section normally has a lengththat is considerably less than half that of the card. Each coversection, as it is cut from the end of the strip, is engaged and carriedby transfer mechanism into timed registry and contact with one of theapertures of the moving card strip, the adhesive-bearing edges beingapplied to the aperture borders. In a preferred embodiment, the stripmoves over the top of a vacuum roller provided with vacuumizedperipheral openings to grip and hold the strip and to carry it aroundand underneath the roller where it comes into contact with the movingcard stock web. A rotating cutter with one or more cutting blades isarranged to cut the strip on the vacuum roller into sections of theproper length as heretofore described, the transverse cuts being madebetween each two transverse lines of adhesive but the severed sectionsbeing held in place on the roller due to the vacuum.

At about the time that a section comes into registry and contact withthe moving card stock web, the vacuum is released and the web, whichmoves longitudinally at a much greater speed than the peripheral speedof the vacuum roller, carries away the severed section which adheres tothe ground aperture border. The next following section on the rollerremains adhered thereto, however, for a period of rotation sufficientfor the card stock web to move longitudinally until the next aperturearrives under the vacuum roller and its borders are contacted by saidnext following section. Thus the application of successive sectionsindependently and one by one to the card stock web at spaced pointstakes place very rapidly, but at the same time the linear speed ofmovement of the strip is slow enough to facilitate applying the adhesiveto the strip as above described, as well as cutting the strip on theroller into the desired lengths.

It will be understood that any desired type of adhesive can be employed,provided that it remains sticky until the moment of the application ofthe cover section to the card strip. If hot melt types of adhesive areused, suitable provision must be made to keep them from cooling off andcongealing before the section reaches the card strip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS One embodiment of the invention hasbeen illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it is to beunderstood that said drawings are for purposes of illustration only andare not to be construed as a definition of the limits of the invention,reference being had to the appended claims for this purpose.

in said drawings,

FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan view of a finished aperture cardembodying the invention;

FIG. 2 comprises diagrammatic illustrations of three separate andsuccessive stages in the manufacture of the card shown in FIG. 1, thesesuccessive stages being indicated as A, B, and C;

FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 respectively are sectional views taken on the lines3-3, 44, and 55 of FIGS. 1 and FIGS. 6 and 7 respectively comprise aside elevation and a plan view of apparatus embodying the invention;

FIGS. 8 and 9 show details in perspective of the grinding mechanism, andFIG. 10 is a section on the line 10-10 ofFIG. 9;

FIGS. 1 l and 12 respectively show details in perspective of themechanism for handling and processing the card stock web after thegrinding operation, and FIG. 13 is a section on the line 13-13 of FIG.12;

FIGS. 14, 15, and 16 show details in perspective of the mechanism forhandling and processing the strip of cover material and applying thecover sections to the apertures in the card stock web, FIG. 16 being asection on the line 16-16 of FIG. and

FIG. 17 shows schematically a piece of the adhesivebearing cover stripbefore it is cut into lengths as above described.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIGS. 1-5 inclusive illustratevarious steps in the manufacture of a card by the process of the presentinvention, FIG. 1 showing the completed card as eventually cut from theweb of card stock referred to hereinafter. This finished card 1 can haveany desired shape and size and is here shown as a typical IBM punch cardadapted for use with mechanical sorting machines, tabulating machines,and the like. Typical punch holes or openings 2 are made by a suitablekey punch at coded locations as is well known in the art. In theprocessing of the card stock, the result of the grinding operationreferred to above is shown at stage A of FIG.;'2. Here a portion of thecard stock web has been ground over rectangular areas3which are arrangedin a rectangular strip pattern surrounding the aperture eventually to beformed in the card by cutting out the surrounded unground portion 4. Asalready indicated, the card stock will normally have a thicknessin theneighborhood of 0.007 inch and the strips 3 may be ground down to athickness of only about 0.003 inch or even less. This condition of thecard stock is shown in section in FIG. 3.

In the next stage B shown in FIG. 2, the surrounded unground portion 4of the card is removed by any desired method of punching or cuttingoperation. It will be understood, of course, that the lines on which thecut is made preferably lie within the ground areas 3 where the thicknessof the material to be cut is less than in the unground card stock. Atypical aperture is shown in stage B of FIG. 2 and in section in FIG. 4.In this case, the lines 5 of the cut which form the edges of theremaining card aperture are generally rectangular. in outline but areslightly curved, and also the corners of the aperture are slightlyrounded instead of being precisely square. This operation provides acard having an aperture 6 therein surrounded by thin ground borders 3.

The final stage C (FIG. 2) of the operation is to apply anadhesive-bearing cover sheet 7, usually a film section, to the borders 3of the aperture as shown in section in FIG. 5. As will be seen in thisFigure, the cover section is cut to a size and shape such that its edgesfit within the limits of the ground borders 3 of the aperture, and thecombined thickness of the aperture borders 3 and the cover section doesnot exceed the thickness of the card stock 1. v

Cards of the type illustrated by FIGS. 1-5 inclusive have been disclosedand claimed in the prior patents mentioned above and are in widespreaduse for many purposes. The present invention, as described hereinafter,relates to a method of producing such cards in large quantities and atlow cost. For convenience, the invention will be described withreference to the use of cover material in the form of film, and the cardstock will be assumed to be high quality, rather dense but flexiblecardboard .of a type and also of a width suitable for use in making thewellknown IBM punch cards currently in widespread use.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show in overall somewhat schematic manner a completeapparatus for processing the film and card stock into finished aperturecards. Generally speaking, this apparatus comprises first a grindingzone including a rather large rotating drum with a series of grindingunits spaced around its periphery, in which the card stock is processedto the condition shown as stage A of FIG. 2; secondly, there is anintermediate region or zone in which the card aperture is cut out asshown at stage B (FIG. 2), and in which the film strip is processed froma supply roll and the adhesive-bearing film sections are applied tosuccessive apertures in the strip as indicated at stage C of FIG. 2;thereafter, the continuous web with its succession of film-coveredapertures moves to a card finishing region or zone in which the web iscut to card lengths and the cards are printed and/or otherwise completedto the desired final form. This finishing station may for examplecomprise the well-known Carroll press commonly used in the manufactureof IBM punch cards and is shown herein only diagrammatically since itsdetails are not part of the present invention.

The various driven parts are preferably connected to and driven by acommon source of power in order to insure proper timing andsynchronization of the various operations to be performed. The detailsof the necessary driving connections, gear reductions, and the like, andthe structure whereby the parts are mounted in proper relative position,may vary and are shown only diagrammatically. Referring to FIGS. 6 and7, a framework comprising suitable bed plates 8 and vertical uprights orstandards and braces 9 serves to mount the various operating parts to bedescribed. A main driving motor 10 is drivingly connected to a maindrive element 11 which in turn drives a gearbox 12 for the intermediateprocessing station, a gearbox 13 for the rotating drum and a gearbox 14for the finishing station.

It will be understood that suitable means such as vacuum conduits arepreferably provided for carrying away waste material at various pointswhere it may be found, for example, at the grinding stations and at theintermediate station where the center parts of the apertures are cutout. In order not to obscure the illustration of the operatingmechanism, such conduits have not been shown in detail in the presentdrawings.

GRINDING ZONE The details of the preferred embodiment of the grindingmechanism are best shown in the overall elevation and plan views inFIGS. 6 add 7 respectively and in thedetailed views of FIG S. 8-10inclusive FIG. 6 shows a relatively large wheel or drum 15 having radialspokes 16 extending from a central hub 17 which is mounted on the end ofa shaft 18 driven from the gearbox 13 referred to above. In order tocontrol the grinding operation so as to produce the grinding patternshown in stage A of FIG. 2 and in FIG. 3, the rim of the wheel 15carries a plurality of grinding units for the web of card stock, each ofthese units having raised surfaces shaped to conform to the desiredgrinding pattern and herein referred to as lands by analogy with theprior patents referred to above. To mount these land units in spacedpositions around the periphery of the wheel 15, the rim of the wheel isrecessed at intervals spaced peripherally by the length of a card. Asshown in FIGS. 9 and 10, each such recess 19 accomodates a block 20 heldin place by suitable means such as screws 21, these blocks havingdepressed center portions and raised lands 22 around their edges in arectangular strip pattern corresponding to the desired grinding patternshown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The paper stock is supplied from a roll 23, from which the web 24 passesaround suitable guide rollers 25, 26, and 27, and preferably the tensionin the web is controlled by one or more dancing rollers 28 or otherconventional devices. After leaving the guide roller 27,

the web passes between straighteners 29, around an arcuate guide plate30, and over a back-up roll 31 for the embossing operation previouslymentioned. As the strip passes around the roll 31 and thence around thedrum 15, it is first engaged by one of the land units 20 and is embossedagainst the back-up roll 31 as described in the aforesaid prior patents.

Thereafter, as the web continues to pass around the drum, the protrudingembossed areas supported by the sets of lands 22 pass in successionunder a plurality of grinding units, here shown as ten in number. Thedetails of one of these units are illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9. Eachgrinding unit is operated by an electric motor, the casing or housing 32of which is mounted in any suitable manner on the supporting structurepreviously described. The motor housing has suitable radially extendingsupport members 33 for the housing 34 of a grindstone 35 and supportingmembers 36 for the drive shaft 37 of the grindstone. Driving connectionsbetween the electrical motor and the shaft 37 of any suitable type arecontained in a housing 38. The entire grinding unit is mounted on thesupporting structure so as to be capable of adjustment about the motoraxis, thereby either raising or lowering the stone 35 relative to thecircumference of the drum 15 and its lands 22. In order to permitcontact of the stone with the paper web 24 traveling underneath it, thehousing 34 around the stone is cut away along a line 39 that isapproximately tangent to the circumference of the drum, whereby thestone 35 projects out of the casing enough to engage and grind away theembossed ridges on the surface of the card stock.

As shown, there are IO such grinding units around the circumference ofthe drum l5, and they are preferably adjusted so that their cumulativeeffect is to grind off card material to a depth of approximately 0.004inch. The dusty residue produced is removed by suitable vacuum conduits.FIG. 6 shows the ends 40 of such vacuum conduits, one at each grindingunit.

After passing the final grinding unit, the web 24 is taken off the drumaround a guide roller 41 (FIGS. 6 and 1 1) and passes to theintermediate processing zone next described.

' INTERMEDIATE PROCESSING ZONE In this zone, through which the web 24passes after it leaves the drum 15, the apertures are cut out of the webas indicated at stage B of FIG. 2, the film strip is provided with thedesired adhesive arranged in the manner already stated, theadhesive-bearing film is cut into sections of the proper length to fitthe apertures, and the sections are applied to the apertures. Afterleaving the intermediate zone therefore, the web needs only to be cutinto card lengths and printed and/or otherwise finished in order toprovide a final product of the desired form.

The preferred mechanisms for accomplishing these operations in theintermediate zone are illustrated in detail in FIGS. 11-17 inclusive.Referring first to FIG. 11, the web 24 after passing around the guideroller 41 already described, passes between wiping rollers or brushes 42in the boxlike enclosure 43 and then around a guide roller 44 which ispartially enclosed by a vacuumized casing 45, a suitable vacuumconnection being shown at 46. The cleaned web 24 passes downwardly fromthe roller 44 around an arcuate guide plate 47 and thence (FIG. 12)between a supporting roller 48 and roller 49 provided with suitable dies50 for cutting out the apertures. As shown in section in FIG. 13, eachof these dies is seated in a recess 51 in the periphery of the roller 49and is secured in place by suitable means such as screws 52. Around theouter edge of each die member 50 are raised cutting edges 53 arranged inapproximately rectangular shape as already shown at stage B of FIG. 2.As the web 24 passes between the rollers 48 and 49, therefore, the diemember or members 50 rotate into contact with the ground areas 3 on theweb and cut out the unground portions 4 so as to form the apertures 6.

Meanwhile, the film in roll form in a suitable magazine 54 passes outfrom the magazine in the form of a strip 55 which is drawn out of themagazine by the driven pulling rollers 56 and 57. From these pullingrollers the strip 55 passes around rollers 58, 59 and 60 and then over asupporting roller 61 and between it and an adhesive applying roller 62.

Adhesive in liquid form is contained in a suitable container or pot 63into which a transfer roller 64 dips so as to pick up adhesive andtransfer it to a second roller 65 which delivers the adhesive to theroller 62 mentioned above. The use of both rollers 64 and 65 has beenfound desirable in order to eliminate excess adhesive.

Also, as already described generally, the adhesive applying roller 62 isspecially formed with peripheral ribs or rims 66 which are connected bypairs of transverse, axially extending ribs 67. In this way theapplication of adhesive to the film strip 55 is made along lines forminga rectangular pattern corresponding in size and shape to the groundborders 3 of the apertures in the card web. FIG. 17 shows thisdistribution of adhesive on the film strip, including longitudinallyextending lines 68 along the edges of the strip connected by transverselines 69 applied by the transverse ribs 67.

Preferably also the surfaces of the ribs 66 and 67 are roughened,serrated, or pocketed so that the application of adhesive to the filmtakes place in lines of adhesive dots rather than continuous adhesivelines. This preferred surface condition of the ribs 66 and 67 is showndiagrammatically in FIG. 16, and the resulting dotted application ofadhesive to the film strip is shown in FIG. 17. In this way the amountof adhesive is limited so that there is just enough to effect a securebond between a film section and its aperture borders, but not so muchthat any of the adhesive is squeezed out from between the overlappingedges.

After adhesive application, the strip 55 next passes over the top of avacuum transfer roller 70 the circumference of which is provided withvacuumized openings 71 to grip and hold the film in place around thisroller. During its passage around half of the roller from its top do itsunderneath side, the strip is severed into sections by cutting itbetween the parallel adhesive lines 69 already described and shown inFIG. 17. This can be accomplished suitably by means of a rotating cutterroll 72 (FIG. 14) having one or more knife blades 73 to cut the filmstrip, the rotation of this roll 72 and of the vacuum transfer roll 70being properly timed so that a cut is made between each pair oftransverse adhesive lines 69. However, the cut sections of film remainon the roller because of the vacuum effect obtained through the openings71.

The card web 24 passes from the die roller 49 to and underneath thevacuum transfer roller 70 where each successive aperture picks up andcarries away one of the severed film sections. it will be seen thatthese sections are held on the circumference of the vacuum transferroller with their adhesive bearing sides facing outwardly and ultimatelydownwardly toward the web 24, and the vacuum which is controlled by asuitable valve plate 74 adjustably mounted at 75, is released just asthe leading film section comes into registry and contact with anaperture of the web 24 so that this film section adheres to the web andis carried away with the web toward the finishing zone. Meanwhile thenext following film section moves into similar registry and contact withthe next following aperture in the card web, and so on. The peripheralspeed of the vacuum transfer roller is accordingly substantially slowerthan the iongitudinal speed of movement of the traveling web 24. Thisfacilitates the application of adhesive and also the cutting of the filmstrip into the proper length to fit the apertures.

FINAL PROCESSING It will be seen from the foregoing description that theweb 24 leaving the intermediate processing zone needs essentially onlyto be cut into card lengths in order to have finished aperture cards ofthe type described above in which the apertures are covered by a sectionof film adhesively secured to the thinly ground borders around theaperture without increasing the thickness of the card.

Usually such cards will eventually be further processed, primarily byprinting on one or both sides as may be desired in individual cases. Forinstance, it will usually be desired to print the face of the card withnumerical indications of the coded locations to be punched, andsometimes it may also be desired to trim one corner of the card at aslight angle as shown in FIG. 1. Except for the cutting operation, whichcan be performed in any of various ways known to the art, such otherfinishing operations as have been described may take place as a part ofthe final processing in the present apparatus, or may be reserved forfuture processing. Apart from the basic operation of cutting the web 24into card lengths, such finishing operations constitute no part of thepresent invention and accordingly are not illustrated in detail. Asshown, the web 24 leaving the intermediate processing zone describedabove passes around a guide roller 76 (FIG. 6) into finishing apparatusshown in outline as a Carroll press of the type usually employed in themanufacture of the well-known IBM punch cards wherein the web 24 is notonly cut but also the cards are printed and held out of contact witheach other until dry, etc.

a The cooperation of the mechanisms described in detail above anddefined in the appended claims results in an overall high speedoperation with very large production volume. It is possible, forexample, for the web 24 to move through the apparatus at a linear speedsufiicient to produce 30,000-35,000 cards per hour. The parts of theapparatus which make possible this high rate of production are definedin the following claims.

lclaim:

1. In the manufacture of aperture cards by the method which comprisesmoving a strip of card stock continuously through a grinding zone inrelatively stationary contact with embossing lands while embossing andpartially grinding away the card stock in narrow, elongated areas whichare supported by said lands and which surround unsupported and ungroundareas, said lands being arranged in sets spaced by a distance equal tothe length of a card, separating the moving strip from said lands andremoving said unground areas from the strip to provide apertures withsaid thin ground areas extending border-like around the edges of eachaperture, applying a cover sheet over each aperture with its edgesoverlapping and adhesively secured to said ground borders, the combinedthickness of said ground areas and the overlapping edges of said coversheet being no greater than the thickness of said card stock, andcutting the moving strip with the applied cover sheets into cardlengths; the improvements which comprise a. moving a strip of covermaterial continuously through a zone in which adhesive is applied tosuccessive sections of the strip in lines forming in each section apattern corresponding to said thin borders, the linear speed of movementof said cover strip being substantially less than the linear speed ofmovement of the card strip,

. cutting the adhesive-bearing cover sections one by one from the end ofsaid moving cover strip, and

c. applying one of said severed adhesive-bearing cover sections to eachsuccessive aperture of said moving card strip with the adhesive-bearingedges of the cover section pressed against the ground borders of theaperture.

2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said elongated areas are groundsuccessively thinner at a plurality of grinding stations past which saidstrip and embossing lands are passed.

3. The method defined in claim 2 in which said sets of embossing landsare arranged at peripherally spaced points around the circumference of arotating drum, the strip passing around the drum and moving therewith incontact with said lands.

4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said adhesive is applied tosaid cover sections as a series of separate dots arranged to form saidpatterns in discontinuous lines of dots.

of cover material is cut into cover sections'of the desired length whilebeing held on the vacuum roller and during the passage of each sectionof the strip from the top to the underside of the roller.

8. The method defined in claim 7 wherein said adhesive patterns on saidsuccessive sections of said strip include pairs of adhesive linesextending transversely across the strip, each said pair of linesconstituting the adjacent ends of successive patterns, and said cuts aremade between the two lines of each said pair.

1. In the manufacture of aperture cards by the method which comprisesmoving a strip of card stock continuously through a grinding zone inrelatively stationary contact with embossing lands while embossing andpartially grinding away the card stock in narrow, elongated areas whichare supported by said lands and which surround unsupported and ungroundareas, said lands being arranged in sets spaced by a distance equal tothe length of a card, separating the moving strip from said lands andremoving said unground areas from the strip to provide apertures withsaid thin ground areas extending border-like around the edges of eachaperture, applying a cover sheet over each aperture with its edgesoverlapping and adhesively secured to said ground borders, the combinedthickness of said ground areas and the overlapping edges of said coversheet being no greater than the thickness of said card stock, andcutting the moving strip with the applied cover sheets into cardlengths; the improvements which comprise a. moving a strip of covermaterial continuously through a zone in which adhesive is applied tosuccessive sections of the strip in lines forming in each section apattern corresponding to said thin borders, the linear speed of movementof said cover strip being substantially less than the linear speed ofmovement of the card strip, b. cutting the adhesive-bearing coversections one by one from the end of said moving cover strip, and c.applying one of said severed adhesive-bearing cover sections to eachsuccessive aperture of said moving card strip with the adhesive-bearingedges of the cover section pressed against the ground borders of theaperture.
 2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said elongated areasare ground successively thinner at a plurality of grinding stations pastwhich said strip and embossing lands are passed.
 3. The method definedin claim 2 in which said sets of embossing lands are arranged atperipherally spaced points around the circumference of a rotating drum,the strip passing around the drum and moving therewith in contact withsaid lands.
 4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said adhesive isapplied to said cover sections as a series of separate dots arranged toform said patterns in discontinuous lines of dots.
 5. The method definedin claim 4 in which said lines of adhesive dots are applied to saidstrip by passing it around a rotating applicator having adhesive-filledpockets for applying said adhesive dots to said strip.
 6. The methoddefined in claim 1 wherein said adhesive-bearing cover strip is fed tothe top of a vacuum roller and carried with the roller around andunderneath the same and into contact with the moving strip of card stockwhile simultaneously passing toe latter under the vacuum roller.
 7. Themethod defined in claim 6, wherein said strip of cover material is cutinto cover sections of the desired length while being held on the vacuumroller and during the passage of each section of the strip from the topto the underside of the roller.
 8. The method defined in claim 7 whereinsaid adhesive patterns on said successive sections of said strip includepairs of adhesive lines extending transversely across the strip, eachsaid pair of lines constitutiNg the adjacent ends of successivepatterns, and said cuts are made between the two lines of each saidpair.